HIGH-RANKING Tories are making frantic efforts to stop the de- selection of an AM who defected to the party from Plaid Cymru last December.

HIGH-RANKING Tories are making frantic efforts to stop the de- selection of an AM who defected to the party from Plaid Cymru last December.

Tomorrow the Conservatives’ area executive for South Wales East will meet to decide whether to endorse Pakistan-born Mohammad Asghar – known as Oscar – as a regional list candidate for next May’s National Assembly election.

The defection of Mr Asghar – the first and only ethnic minority AM – was seen initially as a coup by the Conservatives. Soon, however, the accountant made it clear that a major reason for leaving Plaid was that party’s refusal to approve his wish to employ his daughter, a former Plaid candidate who defected to the Tories at the same time as her father.

A Conservative source told the Western Mail: “The party hierarchy is desperate to ensure that Oscar is endorsed for next year’s election. Concern apparently goes all the way to the top of the party.

“They are worried that deselecting an ethnic minority AM will send out all the wrong signals and be embarrassing to the party at the time of the conference.

“But the fact is that members in South Wales East did not select Oscar in the first place. Some people remember him from his time on Newport Council as a Plaid councillor when the most memorable thing he did was call for free parking outside the mosque on a Friday.

“They haven’t been impressed by his performance at the Assembly either.

“And there’s still a lot of feeling about the fact that it was his election as a Plaid regional list AM in 2007 that knocked out Laura Anne Jones, who was a Tory AM in the previous term.”

Another Conservative source said: “There also appears to be an attempt to get Mohammad Asghar top position on the regional list at the expense of William Graham, who has represented the region since the Assembly was set up.

“William is unpopular with Nick Bourne, who blames him rightly or wrongly for an attempt to remove him as leader early last year. Recently a leaflet has been circulated by Nick Ramsay [the AM for Monmouth], which also carries pictures and quotations from Oscar, but not a word from William Graham.”

At tomorrow’s meeting around 30 members of the party’s South Wales East area will decide whether to endorse Mr Graham and Mr Asghar for next year’s election.

It has been suggested that if those attending the meeting refuse to endorse Mr Asghar, there may be an attempt by the party’s controlling Welsh Board to overturn the decision and impose him as a candidate.

A party source from the area said: “If they tried to impose Oscar against the members’ wishes, there would be a very serious rebellion. A lot of people would refuse to take part in the election campaign, and many would vote for Ukip on the regional list.”

Meanwhile it is understood that Mr Bourne is seriously worried about his own prospects of being re-elected to the Assembly next year. He will be top regional list candidate in Mid and West Wales, but if the Conservatives repeat their General Election victory in Montgomeryshire at the Assembly election, it is unlikely that the party would be entitled to a list seat.

Glyn Davies, who defeated the colourful former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik, said: “We have a very strong team in Montgomeryshire and an excellent Assembly candidate in Russell George.

“We shall certainly do our very best to win the Assembly seat. That is what we shall be focusing on, not the possible other electoral consequences of victory.”

Another possible headache for the Conservatives has been avoided, however. Chris Smart, a right-winger from Porthcawl who is unpopular with Mr Bourne and the rest of the Tory hierarchy in Wales, confirmed yesterday that he would not be seeking a regional list candidacy for next year’s election.

The party asked new Vale of Glamorgan MP Alun Cairns not to resign his South Wales West Assembly seat after the General Election to block Mr Smart, who because of his second place on the list in 2007 would have replaced him in the Senedd

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